September 26, 2017

Recipe: Vegan Carbonara Pasta

Full credit goes to my friend, Vlad. Thanks for introducing me to it!

[I’ve never taken a good picture when I’ve cooked this, but next time I will and add it here]

Overview

I know this seems like alot of steps, but really it’s very simple- the steps are just broken out to help guide you through it. Once you read through it, you’ll see that there’s really only three steps: Boil pasta, roast vegetables, blend sauce.

There’s three components to this dish: pasta, sauce, and roasted vegetables. Since the roasted vegetables take the longest, we’ll start them first. Second, we’ll get the pasta cooking since we’ll want to use some of the water for the sauce. While the pasta is cooking, we’ll sauté the mushrooms since it will be part of the sauce. We’ll then combine mushrooms and sauce, mix it into the pasta, and top with the roasted vegetables.

Servings

6-8 servings

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups of cashews (raw are best, but they don’t have to be)
• 2 tbsp black pepper (soaked peppercorns are best, but any black pepper works)
• 1 whole bulb of garlic
• 2 lbs of pasta (any pasta works, but I enjoy tagliatelle or fettuccine)
• 5-6 tbsp salt (maybe more… you’re going to make the pasta water REALLY salty)
• 2 bell peppers (your preferred colors)
• 1 whole onion (your preferred color)
• 2 lbs of mushrooms (portobello, shitake, anything really…)
• 2-3 tbsp decent oil (I use coconut oil, but use what you prefer)

Steps

Prior preperation…

1. Soak cashews in drinking water for a few hours before starting the dish (drinking water because you’re going to reuse some of the water in the sauce).
2. If using black peppercorns, soak them in water for the same amount of time.

Roasted vegetables…

1. Cut the bell peppers and onions into large julienned slices.
2. Peel 4-5 cloves of garlic.
3. Mix vegetables with enough oil for a light coating and add a little salt and pepper. Nothing crazy, just make sure there’s decent coverage.
4. Spread vegetables on a baking pan. Try not to let them overlap.
5. Roast the vegetables in oven (425 F) until they are cooked to your heart’s desire. Some folks like well cooked, some like al dente. I like mine in-between.

Pasta…

1. In a medium/large pot, boil enough water so the pasta can freely move in pot.
2. Add 5-6 tbsp of salt to the water, perhaps more. You want the water very salty. Almost like tasting the ocean. I know this seems crazy, but trust me.
3. Once boiling, add pasta and boil until nearly done (varies by the pasta type you’re using). You’ll want it very slightly unfinished since we’ll be cooking it a bit with the sauce later (but not much…)
4. DON’T THROW OUT THE WATER. We’re going to use some of it in the sauce.

Sauce…

1. Sauté mushrooms with some oil along with 3-4 cloves of garlic until they are nicely browned and soft (sometimes I add onions to this as well).
2. Blend cashews with the water you saoked them with (and extra if needed) until lightly creamy. You should be able to pour it out of the blender with only minimal assistance from a spoon. Favor more runny over thick, since we’ll cook it down later. (If you soaked peppercorns, the water used for soaking is incredible to add to the sauce at this point)
3. Add the black pepper to the sauce as it’s mixing. You want the sauce to be obviously “peppery”. Add to taste, but trust me- you want way more than you think is enough.
4. Add about 1/3 of the sautéd mushrooms and garlic to the blender and blend well. The sauce should be smooth, not chunky.

Finishing…

1. Transfer the pasta water from the pot.
2. Add a bit of oil to the pot to prevent pasta from sticking when we mix sauce.
3. Add the sauce and pasta into the pot over medium-low heat on stove.
4. Add the remaining sautéed mushrooms/garlic to the pot.
5. Add some of the salty pasta water at this point, start with 1/2 cup but feel free to add more if you need.
6. Mix the pasta, sauce, and mushrooms well over the heat. You’ll want to cook it down a bit so that the sauce is creamy instead of runny. But not so much that it’s super thick and sticky. (It’ll also thicken up more once you take it off the heat).
7. Transfer to serving bowl (if you’re fancy…) and top with the roasted vegetables (we keep ours on the side and top when plating).
8. Enjoy!

Tips

• This dish offers a lot of variety in texture and flavor, change it around each time you cook:
  • Try different types of pasta
  • Roast different vegetables
  • Sauté different types of mushrooms
• The secrets to this dish are simple: lots of black pepper in the sauce and lots of salt in the pasta water.